Prep Sports Notebook: Atwood paces SJO golf team, Spartan soccer team fall short

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Atwood leads Spartans at triangle meet

St. Joseph-Ogden's McGwire Atwood hits a shot off the 5th tee at Willow Pond Golf Course. SJO finished just two strokes out of tie for first at the triangle meet on Thursday. Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

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RANTOUL -- McGwire Atwood shot a 42 to lead the Spartan contingent during a triangle meet on Thursday at Willow Pond Golf Course. The Spartans finished second in the three-school event by just two strokes over Rantoul's combined score of 178.

Jacob Kern and Ashten Cafarelli carded 42 and 43 strokes, respectively. Meanwhile, Maddux Carter and Jack Robertson shot a 50, and senior Connor Hale rounded out the top six with a 62.

Judah Christian's Caleb McCullough lead all players as the day's medalist with a nine-hole best of 37 strokes. The Tribe finished in third place with 187 points on a beautiful fall day in Rantoul.

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Spartan soccer team fall at STM

There was no shortage of effort or chances by the St. Joseph-Ogden soccer team during their road match at St. Thomas More. The Spartans played a tight 90-minute game yielding one unanswered goal in each half to the host Sabers to lose, 2-0.

Keeper Hunter Ketchum made four saves for SJO. The Spartan soccer team is just two wins a away from a ten-win season at 8-3-1.

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Unity soccer shutout by Rantoul

The Rockets were unable to score in their Illini Prairie match against the Eagles. Rantoul managed to get four shots past the keeper to win 4-0 in their regular-season conference match.

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Williams steps up for SJO

Junior Peyton Williams lodged a team-high eight kills against Pontiac during St. Joseph-Ogden's home match on Thursday. The Spartans improve to 13-4 on the season after taking down the Indians in straight sets 25-16, 25-14.

Addie Roesch, also a junior, and Shayne Immke contributed six kills apiece to maintain SJO's undefeated conference record, now 3-0.

The Spartans top four players tallied 30 digs. Setter Taylor Hug, who distributed 20 assists, led the team with 10 digs. Roesch and Williams had seven apiece, and Immke added another six digs to the total.

The St. Joseph-Ogden volleyball team is off for six days, then resumes competition next Wednesday at Cissna Park. After the non-conference bout with the Lady Timberwolves, SJO is on the road again in search of a fourth Illini Prairie win on Thursday at Rantoul.

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Despite sloppy start, SJO volleyball team rolls past Unity

TOLONO -- The Unity volleyball team came out swinging against visiting St. Joseph-Ogden in the Illini Prairie Conference match on Tuesday. Unfortunately for the Rockets, the team was unable to maintain the intensity needed in the 2-0 loss to the Spartans.

It is rare that SJO head coach Abby McDonald calls a timeout early in a match, but four serves into the first set and down 4-0 on the scoreboard against Unity, she signaled to the referees for a brief halt as the Rockets' dominant play had her team out of sorts. After the action resumed, the Spartans struggled, but were able to methodically work brief moments of magic to keep the game in reach.

The two teams tied up the score five times in the first set until St. Joseph-Ogden's Shayne Immke's block put her team up 19-18. Firmly in system, SJO then won six of the next eight points to win, 25-20.

Unity's Emmalee Atkins tries to tip the ball over St. Joseph-Ogden's Peyton Williams. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

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Immke would finish the match with five kills and seven digs.

With the momentum squarely on their half of the court and Taylor Hug at the service line, the Spartans hammered out an 8-0 lead over their headlight-struck host to start the second half.

"Taylor has a very high volleyball IQ. She is the quarterback of our team." McDonald said. "She will do everything she can to win behind the service line."

Hug led the team's service effort with three aces. She was the game leader in assists with 14.

She added, with an appreciative smile, "She typically has a plan even if it is different than mine."

Hug and the Spartans, who were now firmly playing in system, continued to pile on points building a 15-point lead on the Rockets to go up, 20-5. The match ended with SJO up by 15, 25-10.

"We were not taking care of the ball," said Unity head coach Erika Yerry. "We need to work on consistency."

Junior outside hitter Addie Roesch putaway six kills and served two aces for the Spartans. Immke added another five kills and notched half of the 14 digs between her and Hug's defensive effort. Mikyla Haley tallied 10 digs and was credit with two of the team's seven aces.

"We played with a lot of confidence," McDonald said critiquing her team's second set performance. "When get our left side swinging early and our right, it really affects our opponents."

Prep Sports Notebook: GCMS too much for Spartan tennis squad to handle

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Road loss for SJO tennis

The St. Joseph-Ogden tennis team was unable to notch a win on any court in the team's road match at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley on Wednesday. The two team's played 8-game pro sets on two singles courts and for all three doubles matches.

Senior Abbey Dow pressured GCMS' Katie Steindinger at #1 singles but could not get the momentum shift she needed posting three wins. Spartan doubles pairs Halie Harms/Emma Thurman and Addison Ross/McKennah Hamilton also won three games during their matches.

Box Score ~

Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley 5
St. Joseph-Ogden 0

Singles:
No. 1 - Katie Steidinger, GCMS def. Abbey Dow, SJO, 8-3
No. 2 - Lexi Cliff, GCMS def. Katie McDermott, SJO, 8-1

Doubles:
No. 1 - Lexi Cliff/Syda Schlickman, GCMS def. Addison Ross/Addison Seggebruch, SJO, 8-1
No. 2 - McKenna Crowley/Kadence Crowley, GCMS def. Addison Ross/McKennah Hamilton, SJO, 8-3
No. 3 - Anna Goodin/Cecilia Goodin, GCMS def. Halie Harms/Emma Thurman, SJO, 8-3

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Photo of the Day | September 21, 2022

St. Joseph-Ogden' Aiden Cromwell tries to settle the ball during second half action of St. Joseph-Ogden's road game at Unity. Earlier, Cromwell scored SJO's second goal of the game thanks a nice pass from Spencer Wilson. The Spartans eventually won the conference game 4-0 and improved to 8-2-1 on the season. See more photos from this game.

Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

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Prep Sports Notebook: SJO golf, soccer, & volleyball post wins on Tuesday

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Cafarelli and Kern medal at IPC golf tournament

St. Joseph-Ogden's Ashten Cafarelli and Jacob Kern were individual medalists at the Illini Prairie Conference golf tournament on Tuesday. Cafarelli shot a 77 for a 5th place overall finish, and Kern turned in his scorecard with 81 strokes to finish 10th.

The Spartan golf team finished in third place by two strokes at Willow Pond with 333 behind Rantoul (332) in second place and conference champions Monticello's 317.

The Spartan six-pack also included Maddux Carter, who finished with 87 strokes and McGwire Atwood with 88. Jack Robertson shot a 105 and James Huisinga rounded out the top-six with 106.

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SJO soccer dominates rival Unity

Four players scored goals in St. Joseph-Ogden away soccer match at Unity for a 4-0 Illini Prairie Conference victory.

Despite a solid effort by both teams, Spartans' Jackson Greer punched in the first and only goal on an assist from Collin Thomey in the first half with less than two minutes-15 seconds on the clock.

After the break, SJO came out determined to challenge the Rockets' fitness. After good pushes by both teams, Aiden Cromwell, on a feed from Spenser Wilson, scored. Teammate Ryker Lockhart (assist Logan Mills) extended the Spartans' lead with another goal in the half.

Later with the Spartans up 3-0, sophomore Alex Accosta came in off the bench to score an unassisted strike and put the match out of the Rockets' reach.

The Spartans improve to 8-2-1 on the season.

In the box, Hunter Ketchum fended off six attacks, and Carter Mabry saw action guarding the post making a pair of saves late in the contest.

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Momentum shift sinks Rockets

The Unity Rockets were in complete control during the opening set of their home volleyball game against St. Joseph-Ogden on Tuesday. That was until SJO tied the score at 17-all and won eight of the last 11 points for the win, 25-20.

SJO's momentum continued into the second set behind the defensive efforts of junior Addie Roesch, who posted nine digs, and another 10 came from senior Mikyla Haley against Unity.

The Spartans opened the period with an 8-0 run before the Rockets called a timeout to regroup. By the time Unity regained their composure and notched four unanswered points to trail by 13 at 21-8, the hole was too deep to recover. St. Joseph-Ogden closed out the set, 25-10, for the conference win.

Roesch led the team's offensive attack with six kills and two aces. Haley chipped another pair of aces. Meanwhile, Shayne Immke tacked on five kills and contributed another seven digs.

Taylor Hug, who finished with three aces, 14 assists, and seven digs was at the service line for the first eight second-set points for SJO.

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